Description
BCT’s coffee special includes three of our best dark roast coffees. Featuring our:
More Green Coffee Bean Information:
Guide to coffee processing methods
Guide to coffee varieties/cultivars
Tanzania BCT Select Peaberry is sourced from a group of 235 family-owned farms located in the Mbozi district within the Songwe region of Tanzania. Producers harvest and deliver cherry to a centralized processing station where the coffee is depulped, fermented, washed and dried. The aggregate processing stations have been established in the last three years to provide producers with a centrally located processing facility that can process coffee more consistently and ensure better quality, which then results in better prices from the international market and more money funneling down to the small holder farmers.
Part of what makes Tanzania coffee so good is the processing is still done the old way, by hand. While most washed processed these days use mechanical machines to remove the fruit instantly. These are put through an old world washed processing which includes hitting a fermentation to loosen and remove the fruit. Depulped the same day they’re harvested, then fermented in cement tanks for anywhere from 24–72 hours to get the fruit off. They are then washed clean of mucilage and sorted through water channels before being spread on raised beds to dry, or dried in mechanical driers (if weather is bad). Sometimes they are given a 8–12-hour post-washing soak before they are dried, which is classically what made Kenyan coffee so famous (double washing) but is seldomly used these days.
Tasting Notes: Tanzanian peaberry is always high on our list for darker roast beans: rich and chocolaty cups with robust and unique spice notes. This one being fresh as can be works pretty well from light to dark, if too light it can get a little grassy/herbal, but a clean and balanced cup with just a little development past first crack, a city+ roast they would call it. Retains its cleanliness into the darker roast points. Lighter roasts are going to be more acidic, not quite like a Kenya but a pretty clear citric edge balancing with a little hint of chocolate. Hit the roast right and you will see a pinch of caramel sweetness with a longer setup, but get it a bit too light, will have an herbal edge. Medium to dark roasts are pretty bullet proof. Medium will still show a hint of acidity, darker will lose it all. Either roast level will be nice and chocolaty with some spice behind it. If your a cold brew fan, lighter roasts points were pretty awesome, no risk of herbal and it popped out the sweeter caramel note much easier, a lighter bodied and sweeter cup.
Roasting Notes: For most, a medium to dark roasts will be preferred: lighter roasts can be a little acidic and won’t developer the richer chocolate factor found at fuller roast levels. Pretty even roasting, medium to low chaff levels. Peaberries do not move quite as well in air roasters, often wise to reduce batch size just a pinch for better rotation. We found a quicker roast accentuates some of the sweeter tone and crispness which was a good thing. Screen of coffee is medium to small beans, average sized for a Tanzania Peaberry.
Cerrado is a region in the state of Minas Gerais, the largest coffee-producing state in Brazil. Coffee has been a major crop in this region since the 1980’s mainly because of the devastating black frost of 1975 that forced growers from the Parana region to relocate north to Cerrado and other areas of Minas Gerais.
Today, coffee is produced by over 4,500 growers on 175,000 hectares of farmland with yields of approximately 5.5 to 6.0 million bags per year. The coffee is grown in rich soil that the natives call “Terra Roxa” or “Red Earth” and other factors such as consistent rains, high daytime temperatures, and dry winters combine to make the Cerrado region ideal for producing coffee.
As the world’s largest coffee producer, Brazilian lots often come in larger sizes with regional names. So, it becomes extremely helpful to understand regional nuances. The Cerrado region, the newest of three major Brazilian growing regions, has been building in reputation and production over the last few decades. Located between São Paulo and Brasilia, coffee in this region is grown on high plateaus at elevations peaking just over 1,000 meters above sea level. The region also has relatively mild weather patterns providing a more predictable climate for processing coffee. Cerrado lots frequently come from large suppliers that use highly mechanized processing strategies to manage larger volumes. When the coffee is milled for export, the green beans are sorted by screen size and graded according to size and then cupped for quality. Our current offering is 14/16 bean size, on the medium to small side, Fine Cup (FC) and Strictly Soft (SS), the highest cup category in the Brazilian coffee grading system.
Tasting notes: The aroma is very nutty and sweet. There was a surprising hint of smoke on the palate. Full bodied and low acidity, best at medium to dark roasts – this is a traditional tasting Brazil – thick, creamy, nutty and semi-sweet. At the darker roasts a very sweet first taste, almost a little fruity, and then quickly turns darker-toned with a bakers chocolate and slightly toasted walnut flavor. Great blend base for espresso or adding body with darker tones although many will love it as an single origin drinker.
Roasting Notes: A pretty versatile bean, although we wouldn’t recommend a light roast. Medium roast will be smoother and more neutral tasting. A darker roasted will bring out the smoky and chocolate notes that most will shoot for. This would be a great bean for blends.
Honduran SHG EP COMSA Washed Processed
Finca Humana (the Human Farm) is the first thing you will hear about Café Organico Marcala, S.A. (COMSA) if you make your way to visit this cooperative in Marcala, Honduras. The wellbeing of humans is foundational to the COMSA philosophy and educating more than 1,500 producer-members to successfully live in harmony with nature is everywhere at COMSA. It starts with the La Fortaleza, the COMSA biodynamic demonstration farm where the focus of transferring knowledge takes place through week- long seminars called Pata de Chucho (pawprints left by a stray dog), which aptly reveals COMSA’s dogged exploration for human productivity in harmony with nature.
The trailblazing ideas for using organic matter to productively cultivate high quality coffee is only a sliver of what COMSA teaches about the power of nature through the Finca Humana philosophy. COMSA dedicates significant funding from the proceeds of coffee sales to run a cutting-edge international school dedicated to filling children’s minds with possibility and training them to be the future leaders of Finca Humana.
What makes it so good? The fundamentals: traceability to the Marcala region, which is a protected designation of origin (DENOMINACION DE ORIGEN CAFE DE MARCALA); meticulous post-harvest hand sorting of cherry; cherry floating to remove less dense beans; proper fermentation; long drying times; and a healthy dose of the COMSA philosophy and training.
Tasting Notes: This cup is nice and chocolaty, lower acidity and medium bodied. A little sweeter edge to it except for super dark roasts. Besides a chocolaty factor one will get some herbaceous nutty/caramel/floral like tones at the medium to dark roast points, gives it some nice complimenting depth without being too exotic. We all thought it was at its best right around a full city – smooth without too much of a roasty note and great chocolaty tones.
Roasting Notes: Easy to roast but will roast two-toned. Medium to low chaff. This is an aggregate production coffee which includes multiple strains and pickings. Produces a long first crack and the finished product will have beans in the medium-dark roast range. This is what helps it achieve a full flavored and balanced cup, the slightly lighter beans push out a little floral sweetness, the dark beans provide the rich semi-sweet chocolate tones. An easy and tasty roast point is just touching 2nd crack.
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